Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren believes Mohamed Salah has elevated himself into the same bracket as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo this season.
The Egypt international took his tally in an incredible debut season for Jurgen Klopp’s side to 43 with two goals – as well as two assists – in the 5-2 Champions League semi-final first-leg win over Roma at Anfield on Tuesday night.
Salah is now being mentioned as a serious contender for this year’s Ballon d’Or, alongside Real Madrid’s five-time winner of the award Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
“He is the one. He is becoming the superstar. It looks easy what he does but it is very difficult,” Lovren said of Salah.
“If he continues like that – I don’t know if this is the right time to put pressure on him – but I believe he should be regarded as one of the best three in the world at the end of the year.
“He deserves to be mentioned for the Ballon d’Or – when people talk about Messi and Ronaldo they should also talk about Salah. He deserves the credit but I think he deserves even more to be honest.”
Salah played a key role in helping Liverpool take the upper hands against Roma but there were numerous other top-class performances with Roberto Firmino, who also scored twice to take his tally to 27, and captain Jordan Henderson also hugely influential.
Klopp’s side scored five goals in a 33-minute spell either side of half-time and although their Italian opponents scored twice in the final 10 minutes, the Reds are still favourites to progress to the final, where they will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
Croatia international Lovren admits it was a game the players themselves enjoyed as much as the fans.
“To be honest you feel powerful, you feel strong when you look around and see the players next to you,” he added.
“We have big names, we don’t maybe have lots of ‘superstars’ but it is not about the name, it is how we perform on the pitch.
“You know how we will react when we don’t have the ball and then we will not be afraid of anything else.
“You can see the system working, definitely. Every training session, every game we feel we are more comfortable and more confident.
“We just need to learn from our previous mistakes, we have to be more controlling of the game, that is where we need to improve, but I am pretty confident for the next leg.”